A facile method is introduced to prepare large-area gold-coated ZnO nanorods, featuring the capability to tailor both the spatial distribution and the concentration of metal nanocrystals. The Au nanoparticles-loaded ZnO nanorods exhibit complete catalysis-degradation Rhodamine B within 15 min, which substantially surpass other TiO(2)- and ZnO-based photocatalysts. Furthermore, The ZnO/Au nanocomposites can removal about 91% of environmental persistent 4-chlorophenol from water after 300 min irradiation. The better photocatalytic performance is attributed to the one-dimentional structure of high-quality ZnO nanorods and the large-area noble metal decoration. These promising results would make this photocatalyst an exceptional choice for the environmental purification of organic pollutants in aqueous solution. This approach may also give rise to a new class of multifunctional materials with possible applications in energy-conversion devices, biofunctionalized materials, and infrared-emitting/detecting devices.

Ball-flower shaped CuS structures have been synthesized by using mixed copper chloride and thiourea in a simple hydrothermal process employing poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) as the surfactant. The morphological investigations by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) reveal that the ball-flower shaped nanostructures are monodispersed in large quantities. The ball-flower shaped morphologies are strongly dependent on the different ratios of copper chloride to thiourea, the reaction temperature and reaction time. The possible growth mechanism of the formation of ball-flower shaped CuS products is discussed in detail. In addition, the photocatalytic activity of ball-flower shaped CuS architectures has been tested by the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under UV light irradiation, showing that the as-prepared ball-flower shaped CuS structures exhibit high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of RhB.

In this paper, single-crystalline α-Fe2O3 oblique nanoparallelepipeds are fabricated in high yield via a facile surfactant-free hydrothermal method, which involves oriented aggregation and Ostwald ripening. The obtained nanocrystals have exposed facets of {012}, {01-4} and {-210} with a rhombohedral α-Fe2O3 structure. The gas sensors based on the as-synthesized α-Fe2O3 nanostructures exhibit high sensitivity, short recovery time, and good reproducibility in ethanol and acetone. The superiority of the gas-sensing properties of the obtained nanostructures should be attributed to the surface structure of the nanocrystals. The as-prepared α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals are significant for exploiting their other applications in the future.

It is a known fact that Pd-based bimetallic nanostructures possess unique properties and excellent catalytic performance. In this work, the Au-Pd alloy and core-shell nanostructures have been prepared by a simple one-pot hydrothermal coreduction route, and their formation process and mechanism are discussed in detail. A reducing capacity-induced controlled reducing mechanism is proposed for the formation process of Au-Pd bimetallic nanostructures. CTAB plays a key role in the formation of alloy Au-Pd nanostructures. When CTAB is absent, the products are typical core-shell nanostructures. Moreover, the as-prepared nanostructures exhibit excellent electrocatalytic ORR performance in alkaline media, especially for Au-Pd alloy nanostructures. The overpotential of oxygen reduction gets reduced significantly, and the peak potential is positive-shifted by 44 and 34 mV in comparison with the core-shell ones and Pd/C catalyst, respectively. Thus, the controllable preparation and excellent electrocatalytic properties will make them become a potentially cheaper Pd-based cathodic electrocatalyst for DAFCs in alkaline media.

In this communication, we prepare a Au-Pt yolk-shell structure through a galvanic displacement strategy and explore its electrocatalytic properties for methanol oxidation. It exhibits high electrocatalytic activity with notable CO-tolerance.